Im learning English to understand richard simmons...

Yeah, its true. Students will spend thousands upons thousands of dollars with nova to learn such life altering skills as
1) talking to foreign countries people
2) to read the back of DVD boxes
3) to understand their daughters fiancee
4) to tbe able to understand Jay-Z (ps she is 60 and a house wife)
5) to show off to co-workers
6) for the joy of learning englsih converstaion

so work has been good. you get some really amazing stunners who make you happy to be in japan teaching english. and you get some duds. Some students so slow that you want to (and do ) turn off the screen and proceed to gauge out your eyeballs with a chopstick.

in the past few weeks we have been doing lots of errands on our days off. working out. shiv is down to a svelte 67 kilograms and looks like a god. I an the other hand have lost 3.5 kilograms and am down to 58 kgs. by the way i came here weighing 61.8kgs and shiv 78kgs. nuts hey. if any one is super determined to loose some weight. come to japan.

shivs friend doug crossman is getting some mad work done here in japan. he is getting his whole back tattooed at chopstick tattoo here in osaka. Shiv and doug bonded and became fast friends in edmonton due to their shared interest in tattoo and Ton ( tattoo artist's) work here at chopstick. Doug is planning on making monthly painfull trips from Seoul Korea to osaka to get his tattoo done in increments. during his time spent in osaka, he can bleed techno colored patterns on our kitcken floor. Doug there is always a place for you in our home.... and thats infront of the fridge.

The crew at chopsticks seem to be really nice and well...diverse. you have Ton who is a huge ball of friendly energy, and amazing artist with good ideas. you have the part time girls that work there that are like well.... they look just like a japanese girl from a high fashion magazine, but way more colorfull and much more tattooed. super intersting. from their blond hair down to the pink nails, super amazing make up, afro perm, glitter eye liner, hot pink nails, and super cool style. They basically make regular japanese girls look like mold.

then there is osaka ben. on the web site he is .... the attractive blond, or in another picture the attractive brunette with pigtails in the gothic lolita out fit. We met ben in his "boring" clothes. black shirt and pants. He was very kind. gave myself, shiv and doug a great back ground on tattooing, the shop, its history and staff. He was even so kind as to show us the work that he and chopstick tatoo staff have done ( on his own body). Ben seems to be a really kind and out going person. If you see him on the street you would faster think he was a mormon missionary, than a tattoo artist. And it probably would never occur to you his whole body is tattooed.

How do we know this, because ben took of his shirt, then pants (and underwear) to show us his "body of work". I think he has alot of self esteem because i noticed i was in the room. but i dont think he cared much. so there he is naked, holding his crotch pointing out all of his different tattoos, who did them, when. All the while shiv and doug and me are like
" is he naked... i think hes naked..does any one see this... i think hes naked"

all i can say is the artists at chopstick are focused on producing great art.it shows in how excited they get to talk about it, it shows in the art work around the offices and especially on the artists themselves..

This week me and shiv are super excited to go on our next adventure ROCCO MT. he are going to go hiking. shiv is going to take photos, and i am going to paint. i think it will be a goo break from grey osaka to see the wilderness, and i hope some fresh air will help me sleep better.
till next time

ps the pictures are of 1) dougs tattoo in progress 2) zeev and pooh-san 3) shivs super dinner (featuring his garlic miso tofu!), 4) jan and one of the chop stick tattoo receptionists (see what i mean..so cool)